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Nightstar
Basic Info *Name: Nightstar ("Silent Night") *Concept: Quiet Hunter *Player: Arynne *Motivation: Ensure that murders are solved and the dead receive justice *Exalt Type: Solar **Caste: Night *Age: 23 *Anima: A ghostly white strix with golden eyes; when iconic, the giant owl spreads its wings and screeches History Long ago in the Flowing Grasp Province there lived a Solar called Starless Sky. She was of the Night Caste, though few who met her during the day could believe it. When the Sun shone, Starless Sky was one of the noblest Exalts in Creation, willing to bear any burden and suffer any pain for the sake of others. But when darkness fell… …when darkness fell she was without pity. She would rob, torture or murder as necessary to advance the goals of the Deliberative, and she always worked alone. When the Zenith of her Circle brought up the subject of a particularly brutal killing the night before, Starless Sky answered, “Who knows what happens when the Sun doesn’t see?” Starless Sky did not live to see the Usurpation. Her corpse turned up one night, floating down the River of Tears. Her murder was never solved, her death never avenged, for even her Circle was unable to discover the identity of her killer. “Not even the Sun saw her die,” the Zenith said sadly. The Dagger of Heaven was laid to rest in the endless forests of the East, but only her Circlemates knew where. In accordance with her final instructions, delivered by a messenger to her Circle the day after her death, her twin daiklaves and bracers were buried with her. The messenger also brought with him a sack filled with strangely-shaped pieces of gray iron. The Circle realized that they were the components of a powerful artifact, but out of respect for Starless Sky’s wishes, they buried these with her as well. They planted a redwood sapling over her grave and went their way, though they never took another Nightbringer into their Circle. Starless Sky, they said, was with them still. More than fifteen hundred years came and went. The Deliberative fell. The Shogunate rose, and fell in its turn. The Republic of Halta grew up in the Northeastern forests where Starless Sky and her Circle had loved and fought and killed. The sapling grew into a mighty tree. And then, as all things must, it too fell. In the days and weeks to come, a dark shadow fell over the nearby villages, over humans and beasts and birds alike. Dreadful stories spread of a creeping terror in the night, of a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find young; it slipped through windows to find cradles. No matter what defenses the people erected: the sunrise always revealed yet another horrifying death. Soon the shadow no longer preyed on the small and weak. In one of the beleaguered villages there lived a quiet hunter whose name was Nightstar. The daughter of a Haltan father and a mother from the Scavenger Lands, she had always been something of a misfit. Though her mother had been a traveling merchant, she herself had only left the village once, to serve her term in the military. Unlike most of her people, she saw actual combat with the Linowan…saw the burned trees and charred corpses they left in their wake. When she returned home she was more silent than ever, and even more of an outsider. She shunned human company, preferring to hunt alone in the forest, with only her san-beast partner, a gigantic tree-panther named Ebony, for companionship. It was Nightstar who tracked the lurking shadow to its resting place and discovered its secret: when Starless Sky’s burial place was disturbed, her hungry ghost was aroused from its centuries of uneasy slumber and began wandering at night, searching for victims. Nightstar’s mortal weapons were powerless against such a horror, and she was preparing to die -- silently, as always -- when a cold white light, stronger than starlight or moonlight, shone all about her, and a ringing voice spoke. “Daughter,” the voice said, “you have always suffered and you have always kept silent. There is not one secret place within you without its bleeding wound, but you have never cried out. No one ever understood you. You never understood yourself. But I understand you! You never knew your own sleeping strength. But I know it! And from this day forward, when you are silent, all mortal flesh will keep silence with you, and when you cry out, your outcries will bring down the world itself. Never again will I turn my back on those who suffer in silence, either the living or the dead. I am the Unconquered Sun, and you, Nightstar, are my Chosen.” Appearance Nightstar is small and compact of build, sturdy rather than muscular, with fine hands and feet. If she's five foot one, that's granting her an inch or so; if she weighs a hundred and ten pounds, that's in some part of the Wyld where gravity works differently. She typically wears minimal, roughly stitched, leather garments, finding the River country uncomfortably warm after the redwood forests of her home, and her body is sinewy and taut, finely toned. Nightstar's skin is a much lighter shade of brown than is common among most Haltans, and her eyes and hair are a rich dark hazel rather than solid green -- a legacy of her mother, a merchant from the Scavenger Lands. http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj102/Aridawnia/PantherRider.jpg Attributes Physical (Secondary) *Strength 2 *Dexterity 4 *Stamina 3 Social (Tertiary) *Charisma 3 *Manipulation 1 *Appearance 3 Mental (Primary) *Perception 4 *Intelligence 3 *Wits 4 Abilities DAWN *Archery *Martial Arts *'Melee' 4 (Fighting with Two Weapons +1) *'Thrown' 3 *War ZENITH *Integrity 2 *Performance *Presence *'Resistance' 3 *'Survival' 4 TWILIGHT Craft Skills *Craft (Air) 0 *Craft (Earth) 0 *Craft (Fire) 0 *Craft (Water) 0 *Craft (Wood) 0 *Investigation 3 *Lore 2 *Medicine *'Occult' 4 NIGHT *'Athletics' 4 *'Awareness' 4 *'Dodge' 3 *'Larceny' *'Stealth' 4 ECLIPSE *Bureaucracy *Linguistics 2 *Ride 3 *Sail *Socialize Languages *(Native) Forest-tongue (Halta) *Rivertongue *Old Realm Backgrounds Level 1 Artifact - Discreet Essence Armor (1 dot) Level 4 Artifact - Whisper and Scream (3 dots, 2 BPs) Level 3 Familiar - Ebony (3 dots) Artifacts Discreet Essence Armor (1-dot Artifact, orichalcum) Soak 7B/7L, Hardness 3B/3L, Mobility -0, Fatigue -0, Attune 5 This artifact consists of a pair of bracers and a pair of greaves made of orichalcum, but smaller than average and seemingly more ornamental than functional, engraved with an elaborate pattern of leaves and branches. But if Nightstar is attacked while wearing them, they will reveal their true strength, automatically drawing six motes of Essence from her and expanding into pale golden armor that shimmers faintly in the dark with a soft radiance like that of fireflies. Whisper and Scream (4-dot Artifact pair, orichalcum) Speed 4, Accuracy +5, Damage +4L, Defense +2, Rate 3 This pair of short daiklaves (or "cunning serpent knives" as they were known in the Old Realm) confer certain benefits to the Exalt who attunes to them. Firstly, the knives devour sound. A target who takes even a single Health Level of damage from them is rendered mute for the next two hours, unable to speak, cry out or make any noise whatsoever - and so is anyone who witnesses the attack! Secondly, the wielder gains three extra dice to Stealth rolls whenever the blades are unsheathed. Thirdly, the knives are tenacious. As long as a victim's blood clings to the blades, they draw their wielder inescapably in the victim's direction. Stationary or slow-moving targets can be tracked automatically; fast-moving ones require a simple success on a Perception + Awareness or Survival roll. Finally, Whisper and Scream know their purpose. Only a Night or Day Caste may attune to them - to all other Exalted, as to mortals, they are merely a pair of clumsy golden chopping swords. Familiar Coming! Charms Melee *Second Melee Excellency / 2 motes per success / Exalted, p. 184 *Hungry Tiger Technique / 1 mote / Exalted, p. 190 *Dipping Swallow Defense / 2 motes / Exalted, p. 192 *Bulwark Stance / 5 motes / Exalted, p. 193 *Heavenly Guardian Defense / Exalted, p. 193 Resistance *Ox-Body Technique / - / Exalted, p. 208 Investigation *Second Investigation Excellency / 2 motes per success / Exalted, p. 184 *Crafty Observation Method / 5 motes / Exalted, p. 213 Occult *Spirit-Detecting Glance / 3 motes / Exalted, p. 221 *Spirit-Cutting Attack / 1 mote / Exalted, p. 221 Awareness *First Awareness Excellency / 2 motes per success / Exalted, p. 184 *Keen Hearing and Touch Technique/ 3 motes / Exalted, p. 225 Stealth *Easily Overlooked Presence Method / 3 motes / Exalted, p. 230 *Invisible Statue Spirit / 5 motes / Exalted, p. 230 Combos *Hungry Panther Strike (5 motes plus 2 per success ): Nightstar may automatically succeed on a Melee attack, and extra successes count twice when determining raw damage. Should she be attacked before her next action, her flashing blades seem to parry of their own accord. **Second Melee Excellency **Hungry Tiger Technique **Heavenly Guardian Defense Equipment Mundane Throwing Sticks Speed 5, Accuracy +0, Damage +3B, Rate 2, Range 10 Magical *Discreet Essence Armor Soak 7B/7L, Hardness 3B/3L, Mobility -0, Fatigue -0, Attune 5 *Cunning Serpent Knives Speed 4, Accuracy +5, Damage +4L, Defense +2, Rate 3, Attune 6 Vital Information Willpower 6/6 Virtues Compassion 3/3 Conviction (Primary) 3/3 Temperance 2/2 Valor 2/2 Limit 0/10 Virtue Flaw Heart of Flint Combat Statistics Defense Values Dodge DV: 5 Parry DV: 6 Mental Dodge DV: 4 Mental Parry DV: 2 Soak Bashing Soak: 10 (6) Lethal Soak: 8 (4) Aggravated Soak: 7 (3) Health -0 [ ] -1 [ ] [ ] -1 [ ] [ ] -2 [ ] [ ] -4 [ ] [ ] Incapacitated [ ] Dying [ ] [ ] [ ] 'Essence 3' Personal: 15/15 Peripheral: 26/37 Committed: 11 Other Information Intimacies Ebony, victims of violence, hunting Experience 23/77 Bonus Point Expenditure Artifact 3 to 4 - 2 points Dodge 1 to 3 - 2 points Awareness 1 to 3 - 2 points Athletics 1 to 3 - 2 points Melee 1 to 4 - 3 points Survival 4 - 1 point Occult 4 - 1 point Athletics 4 - 1 point Stealth 4 - 1 point Experience Point Expenditure Temperance 1 to 2 - 3 points Integrity 1 to 2 - 2 points Lore 1 to 2 - 2 points Linguistics 1 to 2 - 2 points Melee Specialty 1 - 3 points Dipping Swallow Defense - 8 points Hungry Tiger Technique - 8 points Bulwark Stance - 8 points Heavenly Guardian Defense - 8 points Hungry Panther Strike - 8 points Essence 3 - 16 points Category:CotUS PC